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Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing a consumer learned a supermarket was selling a recent skincare range that seemed similar to items from high-end label Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

Rachael rushed to her local store to buy the Lacura face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 price tag of the Augustinus Bader 50ml product.

Its streamlined blue container and gold lid of the two products look noticeably alike. Although Rachael has never tried the premium cream, she claims she's satisfied by the product so far.

Rachael has been purchasing beauty alternatives from high street stores and grocery stores for some time, and she's part of a trend.

Over a quarter of UK shoppers state they've tried a beauty or cosmetic dupe. This rises to 44% among younger adults, according to a recent survey.

Dupes are beauty items that copy well-known brands and provide affordable substitutes to luxury items. They often have alike branding and containers, but occasionally the formulas can vary significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Isn't Always Better'

Beauty experts argue certain substitutes to luxury brands are decent standard and help make skincare more affordable.

"I don't think costlier is invariably better," says skin specialist one expert. "Not all affordable beauty label is inferior - and not all high-end beauty item is the best."

"Certain [dupes] are absolutely excellent," notes Scott McGlynn, who hosts a program about famous people.

A lot of of the items based on luxury labels "disappear so rapidly, it's just insane," he remarks.

Scott McGlynn

Medical expert Ross Perry argues dupes are fine to use for "simple routines" like hydrators and face washes.

"Alternatives will be effective," he comments. "They will handle the essentials to a satisfactory level."

Ketaki Bhate, thinks you can cut costs when searching for simple-formula products like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide and squalane.

"When you're buying a simple item then you're probably going to be okay in opting for a budget alternative or something which is quite low cost because there's very little that can cause issues," she explains.

'Don't Be Sold by the Box'

Yet the experts also recommend shoppers do their research and say that more expensive products are occasionally worth the extra money.

Regarding premium beauty products, you're not just covering the name and advertising - sometimes the elevated cost also comes from the ingredients and their grade, the strength of the effective element, the technology used to develop the item, and tests into the item's performance, she notes.

Facialist she suggests it's important thinking about how some dupes can be sold so at a low cost.

Occasionally, she believes they might have filler ingredients that do not provide as many benefits for the complexion, or the components might not be as well sourced.

"The key uncertainty is 'Why is it so inexpensive?'" she remarks.

Commentator McGlynn says in some cases he's purchased beauty products that look comparable to a well-known label but the item has "no connection to the original".

"Do not be sold by the container," he added.

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Regarding advanced items or ones with ingredients that can aggravate the complexion if they're not formulated correctly, such as retinoids or vitamin C, she advises using research-backed labels.

The expert explains these probably have been subjected to costly trials to evaluate how efficacious they are.

Beauty items must be evaluated before they can be sold in the UK, explains skin doctor Emma Wedgeworth.

When the label advertises about the effectiveness of the item, it must have research to support it, "but the manufacturer does not necessarily have to conduct the testing" and can alternatively cite studies completed by different companies, she says.

Read the Ingredients List of the Container

Is there any ingredients that could suggest a product is low-quality?

Ingredients on the list of the bottle are ordered by quantity. "The baddies that you need to be wary of… is your mineral oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrance, benzel peroxide" being {high up